Cobalt International Energy yesterday cut a deal with the official committee representing its unsecured creditors, removing a significant obstacle to confirmation of its chapter 11 bankruptcy liquidation plan, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Unsecured creditors said that they would agree to drop a threat of lawsuits and objections to the Houston oil-and-gas company’s plan, in exchange for up to $23 million in cash. The proposed settlement does not remove all objections to Cobalt’s chapter 11 plan, which has been criticized as the result of disappointing auction results. Judge Marvin Isgur is conducting confirmation hearings on Cobalt’s chapter 11 plan in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, before a packed house of lawyers representing creditors owed, in the aggregate, nearly $3 billion. The company is a casualty of depressed energy prices and disastrous dealings off the coast of Angola, which spurred federal investigations and left Cobalt with a failed deal. A $500 million settlement with Angola’s state-controlled energy group, Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola - Empresa Pública, or Sonangol, is part of Cobalt’s chapter 11 payout plan.
